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Daniel Solomon's avatar

Yesterday, SCOTUS 5-4, in another miscarriage of justice, ruled against Navaho access to water rights. The tribe sued the federal government in 2003, seeking to compel it to assess the tribe’s needs and devise a plan to meet them. The states of Arizona, Colorado and Nevada intervened in the suit, seeking to protect their own access to water from the Colorado River system. At issue is an 1868 treaty under which the federal government guaranteed the nation’s agricultural needs, which the Navajo Nation argues includes water rights.

Tribal governments in the suit also cited to the so-called Winters doctrine, based on the 1908 Winters v. United States court case, which established that the creation of a Native American reservation also reserves the water necessary for its purposes.

.The region's water supply is dwindling as its population and agricultural output have boomed. The river, which provides water for 40 million people across the entire Southwest, is already overtapped. The seven states that rely on the river have long been embroiled in litigation over the body of water.

“Where does the Navajo Nation go from here?” Gorsuch wrote in a dissent, joined by 3 liberal justices. “To date, their efforts to find out what water rights the United States hold for them have produced an experience familiar to any American who has spent time at the Department of Motor Vehicles. The Navajo have waited patiently for someone, anyone, to help them, only to be told (repeatedly) that they have been standing in the wrong line and must try another.”

In Navaho country the wind grows cold.....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2sF8LIgLAEc

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Paul's avatar

Responsible repopulation.

Water conservation

Air quality

Tone down noise

Limit excessive lighting

Best agricultural practice

Move away from wood combustion, conserve forest/plain natural purpose.

Thoughtfulness, respect.

These come to mind. Worth working on.

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